Apparatus for coating objects with subdivided material.



F. F. BRADLEY.

APPARATUS POR GOATING OBJECTS WITH SUBDIVIDED MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.14, 1911. 1,104,47 l 1 Patented July 21, 1914.

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APPARATUS FOR GOATING OBJECTS WITH SUBDIVIDED MATERIAL.

A P P L I C A T I O N F I L E D O O T 1 4 l 9 l 1.

1,1 04,47 1 Patented July 21, 1914.

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. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANKLIN F. BRADLEY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO BRADLEY it VROOMAN COMPANY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR COATING- OBJECTS WITH SUBDIVIDED MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 21, 1914.

Application filed October 14, 1911. Serial No. 654,679.

T0 all whom t may concern Be it known that I, FRANKLIN F. BRAD- LEY, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Coating Objects with Subdivided Material, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to apparatus for coating objects with comminuted, subdivided or powdered material and is of particular service in spreading bronze powder upon objects whose surfaces are coated or covered or painted with suitable adhesive material or paint, which in its fresh state holds the powder scattered thereupon and in its dry state firmly fixes the powder in 1 place. v

I have filed other applications relating to the coating of objects with subdivided material that are now pending and which are listed as follows: Serial No. 543,215, filed February 11, 1910, Serial No. 550,115, filed March 18, 1910, Serial No. 603,726, filed January 21, 1911, Serial No. 611,042, filed February 27, 1911, and Serial No. 583,731, filed October 241, 1910.

I will explain my invention more fully by reference to the accompanying drawings showing the preferred form of apparatus which is employed.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the preferred form of apparatus; Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2 2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is an elevation, illus-v trated on a smaller scale than Figs. 1 and 2, of the apparatus.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughout the dierent figures.

A receptacle a preferably has its interior surface curved substantially throughout, this curvature being preferably spherical. The receptacle is desirably made of sheet metal and is therefore preferably globular in form. The receptacle substantially confines a body of air within its interior, a door al being preferably employed for substantially completely closing the receptacle, this door being of such a size as to permit the objects that are to be coated with the subdivided material to be passed through the door open- 'ing as these objects are placed within and vwithdrawn from the receptacle. It is understood that the receptacle is preferably stationary and that it may contain suitable supports for the objects that are to be coated. The machine illustrated is adapted particularly to the application of subdivided material, such as bronze powder, to the sized surfaces of metal beds, a support a2 suit- 1 able for the location of bed structures there- -upon being employed. I employ fans Z) Z) at the horizontal poles of the globular struczture, these fans being known as Cone fans which are obtained upon the market from `the Buffalo Forge Company, of Buffalo, New York. These fans are mounted upon yshafts b1 that are driven by the belts b2 in L the directions indicated by the arrows illustrated upon the belts.

The object having a multiplicity of surfaces to be coated such as those with which a metal bed end o, for example, is provided, 1s supported within the receptacle upon the object support a2, the object 0 having first received a coating of suitable adhesive terial such as wet varnish. The object is thus substantially surrounded in substantially all planes by the body of gas. The `subdivided material, such as bronze powder, is admitted to the receptacle interior through the channels d. The object o, which is located between the fans b, has air directed thereupon by the fans in streams of opposite directions, the opposing streams of .air mingling at the bed end c and there thoroughly distributing bronze powder which is carried by the air, upon the bed end. The bronze powder is carried by the air and the air lwhich carries the bronze powder is moved by the fans in the manner described so that the `air will carry the particles of bronze powder that fioat therein to the coated object where the particles of bronze powder vwill settle. I speak of the bronze powder as fioating upon the air, meaning that the air has floating action r upon the bronze powder for a sufficient length of-time to enable the air to carry the bronze powder to the parts that are to be coated therewith. It is possible for the particles of bronze powder to settle in the course of time but owing to the curvature of the interior of the casing the currents of air are so directed toward the fans that any particles which have settled will be caught up and returned to the streams of air flowing toward the object that is to be coated. The curved surface readily guides the air toward the fans after the fans have discharged the air toward the object to be coated s0 that friction is much reduced and the power which is required to operate the fans is greatly lessened.

I prefer at first to operate the fans at equal speeds, say 700 revolutions per minute, so that opposing streams of air are directed toward the object to be coated at substantially equal pressures, the fans being of similar` capacity and operating to force air at equal pressures when running `at equalA speeds, these opposing` streams of air mingling at the object c and there veffecting thorough distribution of the bronze particles to enable these bronze particles'to reach all of the surfaces that are coated with adhesive material. To improve andvmake more certain the results of the operation I also operate the left hand fan at aspeed of say 350 revolutions and the right hand fan at 1,200 revolutions and lthereafter reverse these speeds so as to cause the left hand fan to rotate at 1,200 revolutions per minute and the right hand fan at 350 revolutions per y,

minute. In this way the stream of air Whose passage is forced by each fan alternately predominatesv over and is alternately predominated over by the stream due to the other fan so that the particles of subdivided material are with certainty conveyed to all parts of the object'to be coated that are pro! vided with adhesive material.' After the object has been left within the receptaclev a suflicient length of timeto enable it to be coated7 the belts b2 are shifted to loosepulleys and the fans Z) are allowed suiiiciently to slow down or to stop whereafter the door al isopened and the object which is then'coated with subdivided material is withdrawn.

The blades of the fans are so shaped as to enable the fans to force the airto move from them in comparatively definite directions toward and by the object to be coated, the interior surface Of the receptacle cooperating with the fans to effect return of the air to the saine.

The fans are placed in such proximity as to enable each of them effectively to carry Vthe material-laden gas beyond the object to be coated which is interposed between the Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve centseach, by addressing the Commissioner WashingtomD. C.

respect to the substances' may be employed.

and I use the term air in the claims in this broad sense.

While I prefer fans of the precise construction shown for accoi'nplishing the results which are the object of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to the employment of these instruinentalities within the receptacle for ldefining" the general path followed by the air where it has fullest flow7 and while the blades of the fans are7 by reason of their entire rlocation within the receptacle, particularly well adapted lto effect return movement of the air to the fans, I do not wish to be limited to the employment of fans within the receptacle interior.

Claims relating to the processes lherein disclosed are presented in my co-pending applications Serial No.6541,678,11'iled October' .14,1911 and Serial No. 665,955fled December 1o, 1911. y'

fclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters jPatent the follow'ving.:k l l 1. Apparatus for coating objects with sub- ;divided material carried by air including a receptacle for the objects whose interior surface is substantially curved throughout; and means for effecting the forced passage of air within the receptacle to enable the air to I-Iaving thus described my inventiom. I.

convey subdivided material to the object that is to be coated therewith.

' 2. Apparat-us for coating objects with subdivided material carried by air including a receptacle for the objects whose interior surface is substantially spherical throughout and means for effecting the forced passage of air within the receptacle to enable the air to convey subdivided material to the object that is to be coated therewith.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name FRANKLIN F. BRADLEY.

' lVitnesses: y

E. L. VVi-iirn, G. L. CizAGe.

of Patents,

this tenth day'of October, A. D.,` 

